How To Cook Dumplings

Last weekend I learnt how to cook Chinese dumplings. For those who might not be familiar with these tiny parcels of deliciousness, a dumpling consists of minced meat and chopped vegetables wrapped into a piece of dough and then boiled, fried or steamed.

Dumplings Ready for Cooking

There are also sweet varieties but I made the traditional type.

Pretty simple but somehow I don’t think Jamie Oliver has anything to worry about!

Ingredients needed:

  • Minced pork (about 1:1 ratio with vegetables)
  • Spring onion & cabbage finely chopped
  • Soy sauce & rice wine (or vinegar)
  • Dumpling pancakes (some people make their own but it was too much hassle for me)

Instructions:

  1. Mix together the minced pork and chopped vegetables with a drizzle of soy sauce and rice wine
  2. Place a small amount of mixture in the middle of each pancake and seal the sides with water
  3. Boil the dumplings for 3 minutes being careful not to let them stick to the sides of the pan
  4. Drain the water and serve plain or with hot chili sauce
Dumplings for Lunch

These are just the most simple type of dumplings to make – there are many more shapes and varieties with different fillings. Take a look at these great guides for more inspiration (1, 2). You’ll see that dumpling making is a pretty serious business!

David avatar

6 responses

  1. TomF avatar
    TomF

    This looks fun and tasty! I’d have a word with your tailor though, he appears to have dressed you in a t-shirt 2 sizes too big with a large pink motif 😛 (forgive me)

    1. Yeah, that was the printing mistake I mentioned. Turns out Chinese sizes are quite different from English ones!

  2. Impressed with your excellent dumplings! And thank you for linking back to my post. Now I want to make these tomorrow…

  3. Thanks Helen, although I think your how-to guide was far more comprehensive 🙂 Next time I’ll have to try making the dumpling wrappers/pancakes myself.

  4. au sahuang avatar
    au sahuang

    优秀谢谢

  5. Connie avatar
    Connie

    Actually,we Chinese don’t need water in step 2.(^_^)

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